of berlin



C. BASWITZ.

(No Model.)

LIFE BOAT.

v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

CARLv BASVVITZ, OF BERLIN, GERMANY.

LIFE-BOAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 517,536, dated April 3, 1894.

Application tiled June 17, 1893. Serial No. 478,018. (No model.) Patentedin Germany September 24, 1892, No. 68,641, and in` England November 24, 1892, No. 21,469.

boats, boats for Hoating bridges, and other'v boats requiring buoyancy and lightnes, an d capacity to resist heavy shocks without breaking or injury.

In order to insure lightness and buoyancy boats of the class above referred to are at vpresent often constructed with canvas sides stretched over and supported by a frame work of wood, metal, or other rigid or breakable material, and their buoyancy is fre-- quently increased by the employment of air containing tubes, or cushions. The rigid or breakable'trame work of such boats is however apt to break or become injured under the heavy shocks to which they are liable to be frequently subjected, and the canvas sides are easily torn, the same shocks also are liable to cause the bursting or fracture of the air containing tubes, or cushions (when such are employed) into which the water consequently penetrates, when they of course not only lose all their buoyant properties, but have rather the effect of ballast on the boat.

Now the object of the present invention is to produce a light, strong and extremely buoyy ant boat, composed entirely of elastic or yielding and buoyant material, which from its elastic 0r yielding properties will remain uninjured bythe heaviest shocks and will be practically almost indestructible.

According to my invention, I construct each side of my improved boat of what I term a bolster, consisting of a cover or container of some closely Vwoven watertight fabric, such as canvas or cotton, tightly stuffed with some suitable material of low specific gravity, preferably reindeer hair. The said bolsters are so disposed and shaped as to produce the desired form of the sides of the boat, and

at the stem and stern they meet in a point,

and their junctions are stitched together4 VThe tightly stuffed bolsters while elastic and yielding possess in themselves sufficient stiffness to render the employment of a supporting frame-work of any sort unnecessary. In practice I prefer to divide the coverl of each bolster into several longitudinal watertight compartments, by means of longitudinal seams, the said compartments, when lled with the reindeer-hair or other material employed, forming superposed stuffed tubes.

ABy dividing each longitudinal compartment by transverse seams, the number of watertight compartments in the bolster may be further increased. Or each bolster may consist of separate superposed stuffed tubes suitably stitched together. I prefer to employv reindeer-hair as a stuffing for the bolsters, as it possesses the least specific gravity of any known hair (save camel hair, which would be too expensive) and is by reason of the fineness of its capillary tubes extremely difficult to wet;I consequently, should the water penetrate into the bolsters by any rent or orifice, the closely packed reindeer-hair will soon arrest its progress, and air will still be main- -tainedin the inner parts of `the injured bol`4 ster, which will consequently retain its buoyancy.

In order to make my meaning more clear, I refer yto the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters denotev similar parts, and in which- Figure l is a side elevation of a life-boat constructed according to myinvention. Fig. 2 is a plan of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is an under view of the middle part of Fig. 2. Fig.4isatrans verse section on line 1 2 of Fig. 2.

a, is the bottom of the boat shown as composed ot several layers of water-tight fabric. The sides of the boat are composed each of three superposed'bolsters or stuffed tubes c c2 c3, each tube being made of vone piece of sail-cloth and closed by longitudinal seams s' s2. The bottom ct is connected with the cov- IOO ers of the lowermost bolsters c3 by means of stern of the boat and are there joined together by stitching, and protected by strong overlapping bindings d d, which maybe made of leather and can be strengthened by putting wood-laths into them. Light boards or stretchers e, extending transversely across the boat may be forced under the cross-cush ion e', as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, and serve as foot boards. Besides this, there are arranged in the boat, shown in the drawings, two superposed cushions e2 e3 oi' which the cushion e2 rests directly on the cushions e'. Between the cushions e2 and e3 there are situated two pieces of stuffp (Fig. 3) which are fastened to the sailcloth between the bolsters c2 and c3. The pieces p are connected by straps or belts b, by means of which they maybe lapped strongly together, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Each ofthe pieces@ is provided with a strap t serving for fastening the cushion e3 in the manner illustrated by Figs. 2, 3 and 4 of the drawings. By this arrangement the side bolsters o c c3 are stilened and prevented from straining laterally.

f is a stretcher which extends from stem to stern and may be employed advantageously to prevent sagging of the bottom, when the boat is loaded. The stretcher flies above, or rather within the bottom a. as shown in Fig. 4 and is fastened on stem and stern end or also in the middle of the boat by being put into sailcloth-pockets, joined to the bottom a jutting out correspondingly in the middle;

the transverse boards e and longitudinal stretcher f are preferably constructed of poplar wood, as being light and not easily broken. Further I arrange in the stem and stern of the boat cushions m m' (Fig. 2) and prefer to employ several superposed cushions of this kind according to the desired height.

In lieu of metal rowloeks, I prefer to employ straps or ropes provided with a buckle for encircling the oars, as shown at g g, Figs. l and 2, these straps or ropes are secured to broad leather straps h 7L which pass around the uppermost bolsters c c'.

'i fi are metal thimbles encircled by ropes 7.: 7c, which pass through the bolsters c c fore and aft, through which thimbles the fastening ropes orlife ropes of the boat areintended to be drawn.

Although in the drawings I have represented each side ot' the boat as composed of three superposed stuffed tubes c e203, two or more superposed stuffed tubes may be employed if desired, also the bolsters might be strengthened by other bolsters or stuffed tubes, secured side by side with them, the number of bolsters or stued tubes superposed or placed side by side will, of course, depend to some extent upon the desired buoyancy, depth and strength, required in the boat.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that with the exception of the transversal boards and longitudinal stretcher and the laths on stem or stern, which are all removable and unimportant parts of the boat, the entire boat is composed ot yielding or elastic and buoyant material, which cannot possibly be fractured. or injured by heavy shocks, the boat is consequently extremely light and practically indestructible, and is therefore pre-eminently fitted for use as a life-boat, and as a portable boat for military, explorative, and other purposes; also, by reason of its small draft, it may be used on shallow coasts where there is often considerable surf, and where a landing by means of wooden boats would be impracticable; in tropical countries too, where the difference of temperature between the day and night is so great, the elasticity of the entire boat will be found to be a great advantage as it will compensate or the differences in temperature. Boats constructed according to my invention are also by reason of their buoyancy and strength peculiarly adapted to serve as supports for iioating bridges, especially when their bottoms are also stulied, or formed of a bolster.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-- l. A boat, having its sides composed of bolsters meeting at stem and stern, said bolsters consisting of envelopes of a watertight fabric `stuffed with a yielding buoyant material of low speciiic gravity, the bottom of the boat also consisting of watertight fabric stayed by a rigid stretcher reaching from stem to stern, for the purpose as described.

2. A boat, having its sides composed of bolsters c c'rl c3 meeting at stem and stern, said bolsters consisting of envelopes of a watertight fabric stued with a yielding buoyant material of low specific gravity, the bottom of the boat also consisting ot' watertight fabric stayed by a rigid stretcher freaching from stem to sterm, said stretcher su pporting cross-stretchers c carrying bolsters e e2 c3, the latter being adapted to be used as seats, for the purpose as described.

3. A boat, having its sides composed of bolsters c c2 c3 meeting at stem and stern, said holsters consisting ot' envelopes ot1 a watertight fabric stuffed with a yielding buoyant material of low specific gravity, the bottom of the boat, also consisting of watertight fabric stayed by a rigid stretcher f reaching from stem to stern, said stretcher supporting cross-stretchers e carrying bolsters c e2 e, the latter being adapted to be used as seats, the upper bolster or seat-bolster proper being held by straps t secured to cross-straps b p, the latter connecting the sides of the boat. for the purpose as described. l

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscrib ing witnesses.

CARL BASWITZ.

lVitnesses:

R. HERPICH, E. SoHnL'rzE.

IOO 

